Investing In Dividend Stocks: Why I Chose The Stocks In My Portfolio ...

Disclosure: I am long AFL, CVX, GPC. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

This is part 1 of a four-part series about why I chose the 25 stocks listed here. The information contained in the brief summaries was originally published in the article tagged above.

A Brief Summary Of My Strategy

This portfolio will be maintained for about 45 years, into my retirement, and maybe even further into it. I plan to invest an initial amount of $30,000 into some dividend stocks, and add $400 monthly over 45 years, growing the money by 8.3% yearly. (I think this should be achievable as a 10-year backtest showed a return of 10.7% yearly. I know past performance is not a representation of future performance, but I think 8.3% is a fair estimate).

Portfolio Management

To manage my portfolio, I plan to check the news for the stocks in my portfolio every weekend, and read articles on great sites like Seeking Alpha, Yahoo Finance, MSN Money and The Motley Fool. Besides this, when stocks are more overvalued (most stocks are still fairly priced at the moment), I plan to get loaded up on cash (I will add $400 monthly) and collect my dividends while waiting. I will wait for stocks to be more undervalued (e.g., recession, correction) before buying more stock, and will only sell when the dividend stocks decrease their dividend or announce news that is unfavorable to investors.

Here are some of my selling guidelines:

1. Decrease / Elimination Of Dividend
2. Uncertainty With Future Dividend Payments
3. Losing Market Share Rapidly / Not Competitive Enough / Fundamental Problems

The Mission Of The Portfolio

The mission of this portfolio is to provide myself with steady capital appreciation and a growing stream of dividends to be reinvested into the respective companies. Besides this, I also aim for a portfolio that will yield around 4%, and this dividend, along with the returns in the stock price itself, be able to beat both inflation and the major indexes over the years. Later in life during retirement, I also aim to live solely off these dividends and have a good retirement (along with my family).

Here are some general qualities of the stocks in my portfolio:

1. All of these stocks have at least 5 years of consecutive dividend increases (except KRFT, a spinoff from the former Kraft Foods).
2. All stocks listed have outperformed the S&P 500 during the latest 2008 recession except Aflac (AFL). (the reason is found in the article I linked to above).
3. All have payout ratios of below 90%. The exceptions, AT&T (T), Omega Healthcare (OHI) and Kinder Morgan Pt (KMP) are capital intensive businesses and have safe payout ratios when the formula is tweaked from Dividends Paid / EPS to Dividends Paid/FFO.

Here are some general statistics about my portfolio:

1. Outperformed the S&P 500 by 6.88% annually over the past 10 years (My portfolio 10.70% vs S&P 500 3.82%, including dividends)
   Note: Subject to survivorship bias
2. Yield of 4.2%
3. P/E of 15
4. Beta of 0.67
5. 5-Year dividend growth of 12.2%

Here are the 7 stocks I am going to cover in this article:

Company	Consecutive Dividend Increases (Years)	Dividend Yield (%)	5-year dividend growth
Automatic Data Processing (ADP)	38	3.0	14.2
Aflac +	30	2.6	17.5
Alliance Resource Partners LP (ARLP) +	10	7.5	13.6
Colgate-Palmolive (CL)	49	2.4	12.7
Chevron (CVX)+	25	3.3	9.0
General Mills (GIS)	9	3.2	11.1
Genuine Parts (GPC)	56	3.1	6.3

Stocks which are trading at or below fair value have an plus (+) next to them.

1. Automatic Data Processing

Automatic Data Processing provides business outsourcing solutions that every company needs. I especially like this holding as it provides a service that companies need, and is a leader in its industry, with 57,000 employees in over 70 counties, serving millions of people worldwide.

The company has a $27.95B market cap and pays a 3.02% dividend as of 21.12.2012's closing price of $57.58. The company has increased its dividends yearly for the past 38 years without fail-- a great achievement, giving it a Dividend Champion status.

I also like the stock in some other ways, fundamentally. Firstly, it has only $16.3M in debt, a negligible amount compared to its equity, and this number has been dropping steadily over the past 10 years. I like this as it proves that the company is earning enough to not consistently rely on debt to perform its internal operations. I also like its steady EPS growth over the past 10 years, and the fact that it has been buying back shares at a respectable rate over the past 10 years, as shown here.

Although this is the case, it is trading at an overvalued 20.4X trailing 12-month earnings, and I do not recommend buying the company at today's prices. I would like to consider a position when the stock price nears the range of $51-$54, which is a more comfortable range for me.

Here is a chart of ADP's dividend payments since 1983, when it first started paying dividends:

(click to enlarge)

2. Aflac

I have written an article about Aflac previously. Aflac provides supplemental health and life insurance in Japan and the USA. I especially like the fact that the company has built a strong brand name in Japan, being the number one Japanese insurance company in terms of individual insurance policies, with every one in four Japanese households holding an Aflac insurance policy.

The company has a $25.23B market cap and pays a dividend of 2.60% as of the 21.12.2012 closing price of $53.81. The company has increased its dividend payments for 30 years straight, giving it Dividend Champion status.

I also like this company in several ways fundamentally. Firstly, it has a low amount of debt, with a debt/equity ratio of only 0.28. The number is acceptable to me, with my personal debt/equity limit at 0.5. This shows that the company is earning enough to not consistently rely on debt to expand itself. The debt/equity ratio, on the other hand, shows the proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets, and the higher the ratio, the more debt, rather than equity, is financing the company. A high level of debt compared with equity can result in volatile earnings and large interest expenses. Like ADP, it also has a steadily increasing EPS number, with an EPS increase of 10.7% annually since 2002. Its shares outstanding number have also been falling modestly over the past 10 years, as shown here.

I like the company's valuations at the moment. It is trading at 8.9X trailing 12-month earnings, 7.7X forward earnings and 1.8X Free Cash Flow even after performing extremely well Year to date, beating the S&P 500 by more than 15 percentage points. With its 5-year average P/E in the neighborhood of 12X trailing earnings, Aflac still looks like a good buy now.

Here is a chart showing Aflac's dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

3. Alliance Resource

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. , a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) engages in the production and marketing of coal primarily to utilities and industrial users. It operates 10 underground mining complexes at the moment, and also leases land and operates a coal loading terminal. As of December 31, 2011, it had approximately 911.4 million tons of proven coal reserves. In addition, the company provides mine products and services. Coal is a relatively unloved sector at the moment, but Alliance has proven its resilience to the decline by dropping much less than competitors, and paying a much higher dividend than its competitors. Alliance has dropped 18.61% year-to-date, while competitor Arch Coal (ACI) has dropped 46.76% year-to date. Competitor Alpha Natural (ANR) has dropped 53.35% year-to-date.

The company has a $2.14B market cap and pays a 7.48% dividend as of 21.12.2012's closing price of $58.06. It has increased its dividend for a streak of 18 consecutive quarters recently, after paying a $1.085 dividend in early November. Besides the quarterly streak, it has increased its dividends for 10 straight years, attaining Dividend Contender status.

I like the company for a couple of reasons fundamentally. Firstly, even after paying dividends to unitholders, its EPS figure still looks impressive, increasing from $1.12 in 2002 to $8.13 in 2011, which represents an 22% increase annually. Secondly, the company's book value per share (BVPS) has increased astronomically over the past 10 years, increasing from $0.55 in 2003 to $18.33 today, representing a 42.1% increase annually over the 10 years. I do not expect this kind of growth in BVPS anymore going forward, but I still expect a rate of increase of around 10%, the average rate for the past 2 years. Thirdly, the company has a high ROE of 24.8%. A high ROE indicates that a company's management is using shareholders' money more effectively, which is good both for the company and its shareholders. The definition of ROE is the amount of net income returned as a percentage of shareholders' investments.

The company is currently trading at a undervalued 9.4X trailing 12-month earnings and at 8.5X forward earnings. This is mainly due to selling pressure for investors who are scared away by coal's prospects at the moment. But, as natural gas prices have increased, almost doubling in price, in fact, companies look like they might be more keen on using coal going forward.

Here is a chart of Alliance's past dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

4. Colgate-Palmolive

The Colgate-Palmolive Company manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, personal care products, home care products and pet nutrition products which can be found all over the world. All the products (except pet nutrition products) are needed by people all over the world. People need to use toothpaste and a toothbrush regularly, and we frequently need to buy new ones from the nearest supermarket. Therefore, this segment will not go out of business anytime soon. These are the kinds of companies that I am looking to add to my portfolio-- a company that offers something people need.

The company has a $49.66B market cap and pays a 2.36% dividend as of 21.12.2012's closing price of $105.10. Although its dividend is low, it is due to increase its dividend next quarter. Like the previous two companies, this company is a Dividend Champion, with 49 years of consecutive dividend increases.

I also like this company's fundamentals. Firstly, this company seems somewhat recession proof, as shown here. Its EPS numbers have not decreased (and had even increased) much over the past 2 recessions, with EPS decreasing only 5% in the 2002-2003 downturn. During the 2008-2009 recession, its EPS actually increased almost 20%, showing all the more its resiliency to recessions. Secondly, the company has a sky-high 95.25% ROE number. A high ROE indicates that a company's management has put shareholders' investments to good use, which eventually will turn out to be good both for the company and its shareholders. This measures a corporation's profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. Thirdly, it has been buying back shares at a respectable rate over the past 10 years, as shown in the link I tagged above.

Although this is the case, it is trading at an overvalued 20.6X trailing 12-month earnings and 19.8X book value, and I do not recommend buying the company at today's prices. I would like to consider a position when the stock price nears the late $90s, early $100s range, which is a more comfortable range for me.

Here is a chart of Colgate-Palmolive's dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

5. Chevron

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. Chevron is the second largest oil company in the world, behind Exxon Mobil. The company has a $214.72B market cap and pays a dividend of 3.28% as of the 21.11.2012 closing price of $109.71. The company has increased its dividend payments for 25 years straight, attaining Dividend Champion status just this year.

I also like this company in several ways fundamentally. Firstly, it has a low amount of debt, with a debt/equity ratio of only 0.09. The number is acceptable to me, with my personal debt/equity limit at 0.5. This shows that the company is earning enough to not consistently rely on debt to perform its internal operations. The debt/equity ratio, on the other hand, measures the proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets and operations. A high level of debt compared with equity can result in volatile earnings and large interest expenses. Secondly, it also has a rapidly increasing EPS number, with an EPS increase of 35.7% annually since 2002. Although this is the case, I do not expect such growth anymore as it is now a mega-cap (>$200B in market cap). Besides this, its shares outstanding number have also been falling modestly over the past 10 years, as shown here.

I like Chevron's valuations at the moment. It is only trading at 9X trailing 12-month earnings at the moment. Although analysts are expecing no growth for the company next year, Chevron still looks like a good buy at these levels.

Here is a chart showing Chevron's dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

6. General Mills

General Mills manufactures and markets consumer foods worldwide. It offers a variety of ready-to-eat snacks and other such products and a range of organic products. I like this company as people need food to survive, and as less people know how to cook these days, and given the cost of going to a restaurant, more consumers are buying packaged foods like those General Mills is mainly selling. Therefore, companies like General Mills are not going to lose business anytime soon. Although they sound like a boring business, these businesses are usually the ones who are sustainable, and will reward shareholders over the long run.

The company has a $26.52B market cap and pays a 3.21% dividend as of 20.11.2012's price of $41.10. The company has raised its dividends for 9 years straight, and is currently a Dividend Challenger on its way to being a Dividend Contender.

I like this company in several ways. Firstly, I like the fact that employees are extremely happy working in the company at the moment, with a rating of 4.1 (out of 5 stars) at glassdoor.com. The company has also recently been named one of the best companies to work for by glassdoor.com. I feel that employees play a big role in a company's success. They are the ones who actually make all managements' plans possible, and when they are happy, the company is bound to do better. Secondly, its EPS number has been growing modestly over the past 10 years, growing at 6.9% annually since 2002. It is a matured company, so these results are already not bad in my opinion. It has also been buying back shares at a respectable rate over the past 10 years. All this information can be found here.

I think General Mills is slightly overvalued at today's prices. Trading at 16.2X trailing 12-month earnings and at 14.3X forward 12-month earnings, I would be more comfortable buying at or below the $40 mark, which is achievable in the short term in my opinion.

Here is a chart showing General Mills' past dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

7. Genuine Parts

Genuine Parts Company distributes automotive replacement parts, industrial replacement parts, office products, and electrical/electronic materials in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico. Genuine Parts is the largest auto parts retailer in the USA, with the largest market cap among its U.S. competitors.

The company has a $9.95B market cap and pays a 3.09% dividend yearly, as of the 21.12.2012 closing price of $64.11. The company has one of the longest dividend-increasing streaks in the world, with 56 years of consecutive dividend increases, undoubtedly gaining Dividend Champion status.

I like the company's fundamentals in a few ways. Firstly, even though it is extremely cyclical, its EPS numbers have been growing relatively steadily over the past 10 years, growing an average of 5.5% annually. Besides this, EPS had only decreased in 7 of the past 10 years, which is really not bad for a cyclical company. Secondly, the company has been buying back shares at a modest rate over the past 10 years, as shown here, with shares outstanding decreasing 1.2% annually over the past 10 year. Further, debt has been kept minimal, with the number at $500.0M at the moment. The number has also been kept at or under this $500.0M level over the past 8 years, which is remarkable in my view. This shows that the company is earning enough to not consistently rely on debt to expand itself.

Trading at 16.1X trailing 12-month earnings and 14.8X forward earnings, the company seems slightly overvalued at today's prices. Fair price should be around the low $60s range, and a price I'm comfortable buying at is in the $60-$62, which is not far from its recent closing price.

Here is a chart showing Genuine Parts' past dividend payments:

(click to enlarge)

Conclusion

In conclusion, to make up my portfolio, I like to choose companies with steady earnings growth, steady dividend growth, and those that have a business that sells a product/offers a service that people need. These companies-- however boring their businesses are-- will reward shareholders over time. Additionally, if you are considering to buy any of the stocks listed here, please also do your own due diligence before buying as I have only covered a few of the companies' qualities briefly.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1079061-investing-in-dividend-stocks-why-i-chose-the-stocks-in-my-portfolio

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Mobile Miscellany: week of December 17th, 2012

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, we have a super-sized dose of news for Nokia and Windows Phone users, along with the latest rumblings on the mobile network front. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of December 17th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of December 17th, 2012

Filed under: Wireless, Software, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/22/mobile-miscellany-week-of-december-17th-2012/

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Annual bird counts give scientists climate clues

MAD ISLAND, Texas (AP) ? Armed with flashlights, recordings of bird calls, a small notebook and a stash of candy bars, scientist Rich Kostecke embarked on an annual 24-hour Christmastime count of birds along the Texas Gulf Coast. Yellow rail. Barn owl. Bittern. Crested Cara-Cara. Kostecke rattled off the names and scribbled them in his notebook.

His data, along with that from more than 50 other volunteers spread out into six groups across the 7,000-acre Mad Island preserve, will be analyzed regionally and then added to a database with the results of more than 2,200 other bird counts going on from mid-December to Jan. 5 across the Western Hemisphere.

The count began in 1900 as a National Audubon Society protest of holiday hunts that left piles of bird and animal carcasses littered across the country. It now helps scientists understand how birds react to short-term weather events and may provide clues as to how they will adapt as temperatures rise and climate changes.

"Learning the changes of habit in drought could help us know what will happen as it gets warmer and drier," said Kostecke, a bird expert and associate director of conservation, research and planning at the Nature Conservancy in Texas.

Scientists saw birds change their habits during last year's historic drought that parched most of Texas. Some birds that normally winter on the coast ? such as endangered whooping cranes ? arrived and immediately turned back when they couldn't find enough food. Other birds didn't even bother flying to the coast. Snowy owls, who sometimes migrate from the Arctic to Montana, suddenly showed up as far south as Texas.

There has been some rain this year, but Texas still hasn't fully recovered from the drought and many areas remain unusually dry. Wetlands, a crucial bird habitat, have been damaged. Trees and brush are dead or brown. There are fewer flooded rice fields, prime foraging grounds for birds. And sandhill cranes, for the second winter in a row, are staying in Nebraska.

An initial report on the 24-hour count that began midnight Monday and ended midnight Tuesday included 233 different species ? a drop of 11 from last year when 244 were counted on Mad Island. While the area likely still has one of the United States' most diverse bird populations, the species that were missing raise questions.

Where are the wild turkeys? Why were no black rails found? What about fox sparrows and the 13 other species that are commonly counted on the preserve? Where have they gone?

"There are several possibilities," Kostecke surmised. "Conditions may be better in the east, like Louisiana. Some may still be north, because it's been mild, and they tend to follow the freeze line."

With weather in the north still relatively warm, some birds might choose to stay put and conserve energy for the nesting season, Kostecke added.

Similar changes in bird behavior could be seen this year in the Midwest and parts of the South, areas that have been gripped by a massive drought that covered two-thirds of the nation at its height. The drought's severity is unusual, but scientists warn that such weather could become more common with global warming. Birds ? as well as other animals ? will have to adapt, and the data collected in the Christmas count gives crucial insight on how they might do that.

The dataset is notable for its size and the decades that it covers. Along with showing how birds adapt to climate change, it reveals the impact of environmental changes, such as habitat loss, which has contributed to a 40 percent decline in bird numbers during the past 40 years, said Gary Langham, vice president and chief scientist for the National Audubon Society.

"We've converted the landscape dramatically, and then you add climate change to the mix ... and the results are more alarming," Langham said.

Scientists have used the data to predict bird populations and behavior in 2020, 2050 and 2080. They also could use it to advance conservation work or calls for emergency action, he said.

Birds, though, are only one part of an ecosystem. As they move from place to place, they encounter new predators and species that may be competing for the same food. Vegetation also is changing as the Earth warms and some areas become more drought-prone. What happens as all these changes take place?

"It's the million dollar question. When you have that kind of ecological disruption, no one knows what happens," Langham said. "There are going to be winners and losers. There will be some that become more common, and some that will go extinct."

The survivors are the big unknown.

___

Online:

Christmas Bird Count: http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count

___

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-12-22-Birds-Climate%20Change/id-36f1659bf210401f97cb1567508c3804

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Search Results | coffee & health

If you are looking for a drug that will lower your risk of developing diabetes, Parkinson?s disease and colon cancer, than continue reading this article. If you are looking for a drug that could lift your mood and help headaches, keep reading this article. If you are looking for a drug that could protect against cavities, keep on reading.

The good news is, this drug is easily accessible and is legal! It is coffee! Yes coffee, the much maligned and beloved beverage. Coffee recently made headlines across North America for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. The real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better it is for you!

Reduces Disease Risk Harvard researchers studied 126,000 people for as long as 18 years. The researchers calculate that compared to not drinking coffee, downing one to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily can reduce diabetes risk by single digits. But if you drink six cups or more each day, the risk for men is slashed by 54% and for women it is cut by 30% over java avoiders.

Although scientists advise that ?more research is needed? before they can recommend you do overtime at Starbucks to avoid developing diabetes, the finding are very similar to those in a less- publicized study by Dutch scientists And perhaps more importantly it?s the latest of hundreds of studies suggesting that coffee may be something of a health food- especially in high amounts.

There have been some 19.000 studies in recent decades examining coffee?s impact on heath.

Thomas DePaulis, PHD, a research scientist at Vanderbilt University?s Institute for Coffee Studies says, ?Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful.? The institute conducts its own research and tracks coffee studies from around the world. ?For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good.?

Consider this: At least six studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson?s, with three showing the more they drink, the lower the risk. Other research shows that compared to not drinking coffee, at least two cups daily can translate to a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in liver cirrhosis risk, and nearly half the risk of gallstones.

Drinking coffee regularly even offsets some of the damage causes by other vices, some research indicates. ?People who smoke and are heavy drinkers have less heart disease and liver damage when they regularly consume large amounts of coffee compared to those who don?t,? says DePaulis.

Some evidence also suggests that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication if unavailable, stop a headache, boost mood and even help prevent cavities.

What causes the coffee to benefit your health? Is it the caffeine in the coffee? The oodles of antioxidants in coffee beans, some of which become especially potent during the roasting process? Even the mysterious properties that warrant this intensive study?

The answer is yes to all of these.

Some of the health benefits of coffee are a direct result of its higher caffeine content: An eight ounce cup of drip brewed coffee contains about 85 mg?about three and half times more than the same serving of tea or cola or one ounce of chocolate.

DePaulis recently said that the evidence is very strong that regular coffee consumption reduces risk of Parkinson?s disease and for that; it?s directly related to the caffeine in coffee. In fact, Parkinson?s drugs that are now being developed contain a derivative of caffeine based on this evidence.

Coffee is a Performance Enhancer It?s also caffeine?and not coffee, per se?that makes java a powerful aid in enhancing athletic endurance and performance, says physiologist and longtime coffee researcher Terry Graham, PhD, of the University of Guelph in Canada. So powerful, that until recently, caffeine in coffee or other forms was deemed a ?controlled? substance by the Olympic Games Committee, meaning that I could only in small, designated amounts by competing athletes.

?What caffeine likely does is stimulate the brain and nervous system to do things differently,? he says. ?That may include signaling you to ignore fatigue or recruit extra units of muscle themselves, causing them to produce a stronger contraction. But what?s amazing about it is that unlike some performance enhancing manipulation some athletes do that are specific for strength or sprinting or endurance, studies show that caffeine positively enhances all of these things.?

Simply put, if you consume enough caffeine- whether from coffee or another source- and you will likely run faster, last longer and be stronger. What is enough? As little as one cup can offer some benefit, but the real impact comes from at lease two mugs, says Graham. By comparison, it would take at least eight glasses of cola to get the same effect, which would not be good if running say a marathon.

The harder you work the more benefit you would receive from the caffeine. ?Unfortunately, where you see the enhancing effects from caffeine is in hard-working athletes, who are able to work longer and somewhat harder,? says Graham, who has studied the effects of caffeine and coffee for nearly two decades. ?I you are a recreational athlete who is working out to reduce weight or just feel better, you are not pushing yourself hard enough to get an athletic benefit from coffee or other caffeinated products.

That may explain why in that new study at Harvard, those drinking decaf coffee but not tea beverages also showed a reduced diabetes risk, though it was half as much as those drinking coffee.

Source: http://www.buckstarbucks.com/379-search-results-13.html

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Money-saving auto insurance ideas | Nutrition is a very important ...

Are you currently spending an excessive amount of for your auto insurance? If you think you're paying a lot of for your recent auto insurance coverage then your following suggestions may help you save money:

If your car is getting up there in age, you may want to consider losing the collision or comprehensive coverage (or both) on your plan. You'll need to think about this one although ? it is not always a clear-cut choice. You will need to weigh the cost of both coverages with the value of your selected deductibles and your car. For instance, if you had a car thats worth about $1000, and your deductible was $1000, the coverage isn't actually planning to help you.

Discounts are offered by most insurance companies. Make sure to ask if there are any discounts you usually takes advantage of, while the availability of discounts will be different based on your insurer, where you stay and whether you meet eligibility. The next is a list of some of the more widespread savings (if available in your state, each insurer could have different eligibility requirements ):

Relationship discount ? if you fit in with particular associations, like your alma mater

If youre buying a new vehicle and have narrowed it down to two or three options, assess the automobile insurance rates of every to see if there's a notable difference in the fee to cover. Remember, insurance rates are more for vehicles with large robbery rates and repair costs. If there is a significant difference in price to insure your first choice car, you may have to reconsider.

OK, cashloanemergency?that one is apparent but true. Individuals without injuries, tickets or insurance claims more often than not pay less because of their car insurance coverage. Your driving record is definitely an significant aspect in deciding your insurance rate. Tickets and at-fault injuries affect your insurance charges for years. With a less than ideal driving record, you can find yourself paying a lot of additional insurance premium over the years.

Source: http://az88cocktails.com/money-saving-auto-insurance-ideas/

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Peel-and-Stick solar panels from Stanford engineering

Friday, December 21, 2012

For all their promise, solar cells have frustrated scientists in one crucial regard ? most are rigid. They must be deployed in stiff, often heavy, fixed panels, limiting their applications. So researchers have been trying to get photovoltaics to loosen up. The ideal: flexible, decal-like solar panels that can be peeled off like band-aids and stuck to virtually any surface, from papers to window panes.

Now the ideal is real. Stanford researchers have succeeded in developing the world's first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. The breakthrough is described in a paper in the December 20th issue of Scientific Reports.

Unlike standard thin-film solar cells, the peel-and-stick version from Stanford does not require any direct fabrication on the final carrier substrate. This is a far more dramatic development than it may initially seem. All the challenges associated with putting solar cells on unconventional materials are avoided with the new process, vastly expanding the potential applications of solar technology.

Thin-film photovoltaic cells are traditionally fixed on rigid silicon and glass substrates, greatly limiting their uses, says Chi Hwan Lee, lead author of the paper and a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering. And while the development of thin-film solar cells promised to inject some flexibility into the technology, explains Xiaolin Zheng, a Stanford assistant professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the paper, scientists found that use of alternative substrates was problematic in the extreme.

"Nonconventional or 'universal' substrates are difficult to use for photovoltaics because they typically have irregular surfaces and they don't do well with the thermal and chemical processing necessary to produce today's solar cells," Zheng observes. "We got around these problems by developing this peel-and-stick process, which gives thin-film solar cells flexibility and attachment potential we've never seen before, and also reduces their general cost and weight."

Utilizing the process, Zheng continues, researchers attached their solar cells to paper, plastic and window glass among other materials.

"It's significant that we didn't lose any of the original cell efficiency," Zheng said.

The new process involves a unique silicon, silicon dioxide and metal "sandwich." First, a 300-nanometer film of nickel (Ni) is deposited on a silicon/silicon dioxide (Si/SiO2) wafer. Thin-film solar cells are then deposited on the nickel layer utilizing standard fabrication techniques, and covered with a layer of protective polymer. A thermal release tape is then attached to the top of the thin-film solar cells to augment their transfer off of the production wafer and onto a new substrate.

The solar cell is now ready to peel from the wafer. To remove it, the wafer is submerged in water at room temperature and the edge of the thermal release tape is peeled back slightly, allowing water to seep into and penetrate between the nickel and silicon dioxide interface. The solar cell is thus freed from the hard substrate but still attached to the thermal release tape. Zheng and team then heat the tape and solar cell to 90?C for several seconds, then the cell can be applied to virtually any surface using double-sided tape or other adhesive. Finally, the thermal release tape is removed, leaving just the solar cell attached to the chosen substrate.

Tests have demonstrated that the peel-and-stick process reliably leaves the thin-film solar cells wholly intact and functional, Zheng said. "There's also no waste. The silicon wafer is typically undamaged and clean after removal of the solar cells, and can be reused."

While others have been successful in fabricating thin-film solar cells on flexible substrates before, those efforts have required modifications of existing processes or materials, noted Lee. "The main contribution of our work is we have done so without modifying any existing processes, facilities or materials, making them viable commercially. And we have demonstrated our process on a more diverse array of substrates than ever before," Lee said.

"Now you can put them on helmets, cell phones, convex windows, portable electronic devices, curved roofs, clothing ? virtually anything," said Zheng.

Moreover, peel-and-stick technology isn't necessarily restricted to thin-film solar cells, Zheng said. The researchers believe the process can also be applied to thin-film electronics, including printed circuits and ultra thin transistors and LCDs.

"Obviously, a lot of new products ? from 'smart' clothing to new aerospace systems ? might be possible by combining both thin-film electronics and thin-film solar cells," observed Zheng. "And for that matter, we may be just at the beginning of this technology. The peel-and-stick qualities we're researching probably aren't restricted to Ni/SiO2. It's likely many other material interfaces demonstrate similar qualities, and they may have certain advantages for specific applications. We have a lot left to investigate."

###

Stanford School of Engineering: http://soe.stanford.edu

Thanks to Stanford School of Engineering for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126039/Peel_and_Stick_solar_panels_from_Stanford_engineering

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Wayne?s World

National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre calls on Congress to pass a law putting armed police officers in every school in America during a news conference Friday in Washington, DC.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Be fair: Nothing that the NRA said on Friday could have possibly won over its enemies. Perhaps if he was a different sort of person, NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre could have fallen to his knees, cried ?Hosannah!? and announced his conversion to the cause of gun control. But that?s not who Wayne LaPierre is, and that?s not why the stagey ?press conference? became a predictable circus.

The organization, based in the D.C. suburbs, rented out a location that was far more convenient for the media. Satellite trucks from all major cable networks were parked around the downtown Willard International Hotel, clustered around the main entrance with a view of the White House. If you tried to get in another way, two guards with NRA pins were ready to politely march you out.

No, you had to pass a small group of pro-gun-control protesters, mostly from the groups CREDO and Avaaz.org, waving signs at anything that looked like a camera. I had the misfortune to enter the hotel along with some aimless protesters who wanted to get in the NRA?s face but hadn?t thought to hide their signs. ?You shouldn?t be holding this!? muttered one protester as she was turned away. ?Children are dying because of these people.? I continued to the second press checkpoint, eyed warily by yet more guards, and I picked up my hard-copy event pass: ?NRA Press Conference, Friday, Dec. 21, Washington, D.C.?

The world?s leading gun rights organization had booked a room fit for a second wedding?a room that filled up fast. Cameramen who showed up late, and missed out on the press risers, ambled around the print-press seats, looking for a good view of the stage. They shot over a short barricade that had been covered with a velvet curtain, keeping the ?program??as it was called in our two-minute warning?about 15 feet from reporters. Finally, at 11 a.m., NRA President David Keene walked onto the stage and set our rules.

?And at the end of this conference we will not be taking questions,? he said. ?Next week we will be available to any of you who are interested in talking about these or other issues of interest to you, so contact us, please, at that point.?

A rare event that had attracted top anchors was transformed into a one-way conversation. The media?s questions, suddenly, were subject to a three-day waiting period. We stayed quiet as LaPierre, a 64-year-old who has spent most of his life at the NRA, took to the podium. His head sunk, as if he needed to compose himself for a confession.

?While some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain,? he said. ?We have remained respectably silent.? This was what the NRA said in response to every mass shooting, but it hadn?t been enough this week, so LaPierre promised to ?speak for the safety of our nation?s children.? America?s youth were being put at risk by the lack of armed guards in schools.

?How have our nation?s priorities gotten so far out of order!? said LaPierre. ?Think about it. We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, court houses, even sports stadiums are all protected by armed security.?

Unbeknownst to LaPierre, or to any of the security guards lurking around wearing NRA pins, two members of the leftist protest troupe Code Pink had gotten into the event with media credentials. Now, one of them had a cue. He walked toward the barricade and unfurled a sign, giving photographers a perfect shot?the NRA president in the background and a pink sign in the foreground.

?Stop killing our children!? yelled the protester. ?It?s the NRA and?the assault weapons that are killing our children, not armed teachers!?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=4ac4b8bfaf857258e2049c40199ea2c0

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